Atonement for a Wayward Dragoon
by BeligerentBindlestiff
Summary: Kain endeavors without rest to abandon his dark past. The Mountain of Ordeals is where he must begin his journey. Post FFIV


Chance Encounter

The sound of metal piercing flesh echoed though the mountain, and then there was silence. A body crumpled to the floor, never to move on its own accord ever again. There it was, an end to an existence, a potential peace to be found in extinguished life; no more heartache, no more sleepless nights, and perhaps no more guilt. Then Kain removed his spear from the ghoul's head.

Did the dead return with the memories of their mortal existence in these forms, or were the souls of these once inhabited corpses languishing or being tormented for the actions during the course of their mortal existence? The uncertainty of the hereafter was one of the main reasons that Kain did not outright end his life in the first months at the Mountain of Ordeals; and what good would have it come of it? For all the crimes Kain committed, and nearly committed, his honor, or what was left of it, was at stake. A fall down a chasm or onto his weapon had tempted him time and again, but never returning to Baron to face Cecil would be unacceptable. … and Rosa

No, there were answers on these desolate peaks. Cecil had found his path to redemption here, but he did not enter it completely on his own. Strange forces were at work here, but the problem lay in beckoning those forces from their dormancy. Kain remembered from his time serving Golbez and Cecil's own account of the event that a shrine atop a solitary peak was the key to Cecil's metamorphosis into a holy paladin.

Two years ago when Kain had arrived at the Mountain of Ordeals, he made it a point to find the shrine that had cleansed Cecil of his darkness; and within a few days, Kain had found his goal, but was left with little clues about what he should have done next. The door never appeared, leaving Kain to a varying array of thoughts, ideas, and schemes. At first, Kain thought it was the manner in which he had composed himself. For days, Kain attempted varying behavioral approaches towards the door, even descending into what appeared as treating the door as a person; he's asked it to let him in, begged it to allow him to redeem himself, and on those last days of his "formalities" with the door he was demanding it to open as if the building itself had the power to forgive Kain. Eventually he regained his composure and began to surmise that entry itself was part of the ordeal that he needed to overcome.

Brute force was one of the first attempted and abandoned plans at entry. Kain decided that there had to be some sort of requirement, one which he had no idea what was, but would endeavor to discover what was needed to enter the shrine. For months, the dragoon lived on the mountain, not as a hermit, but as a warrior whose battleground could not be reached. Kain honed his strength and speed while he contemplated what he lacked to attain redemption; not a day passed that didn't include vigorous training, most of which included the iconic skill of dragoons. Kain found it easier to meditate in motion.

Kain then cleaned his weapon and resumed his daily regimen. Like a pouncing animal, the dragoon took off from his place on the mountain, landing on safe footings on the other parts only to immediately launch off to another. This was how most days passed for Kain, the encounter with the undead today was one of the sparse occurrences that would happen between many days.

There were never multitudes of ghouls and Kain welcomed the occasional adversary; he did wonder though where were these corpses were coming from. As vast as the Mountain of Ordeals was, Kain would find the undead roaming in locations he'd sworn he'd only dealt with just days prior.

Kain then moved into his more laborious exercises that included making crashing strikes with his spear. Aside from the encounter earlier, there certainly wasn't anything special about today. There had to be some change in Kain that would lead him to cleansing his conscience. He knew that within him there was that potential, but it was never clear what he should do. Kain yearned for an end to the torment of his actions done through the darkest desires of his psyche. The stronger the desire to be forgiven, the more profoundly the memories surged in Kain's mind. These thoughts occurred over and over, exhausting the dragoon far more than his physical training had done all day.

Kain landed upon a steeper portion of the mountain amidst his mental agony only for a moment, but that was all what was needed for the rocky surface beneath his footing to give way. Kain fell back first away from the spire he landed upon; not two seconds later did Kain impact the side of another peak close by with his backside, and then he was out. As the armored dragon knight continued his fall against the side of the mountain, the shrine resonated with a dissonant tone and soft glow.

His eyes opened slowly, greeted by a bright midday or afternoon sun. Some time must have passed since his accident, after all, Kain's exercises today had taken place during the late morning. His first order of business would be to check for injury. Depending on how much sunlight was left, Kain would only have some time to take his possibly injured self back to his encampment, and he did not want to rest without the protective wards meant to keep travelers safe from creatures during the night. He slowly moved his arms and legs to check for breaks; no pain was detected as he lay on his side. Kain didn't feel the weight of any rocks that might have come crashing down on top of him, so he made his attempt to get up.

Kain felt a loss of balance in his body and the loss of sensation in his fingers concerned him with the possibility of nerve damage. He lifted his hand only to see a blunted appendage.

Without words other than a huff, Kain maneuvered onto his four legs. It should have been shocking to have found himself in this alien but familiar form, however, Kain was all to acquainted with abrupt changes in species. During his adventure with Cecil and company, many wizards and magic users cast transformation spells. Being turned into swine for the first time was not a pleasant learning experience neither was turning into a toad. Clumsily adjusting to your four humiliating appendages wasn't particularly easy when enemies came down upon you to butcher your new form. Luckily, adaptation to new environments and physical changes weren't uncommon in Kain's experience, but this was the first time he'd have to deal with an equine form.

As Kain gained his bearings, he looked down at his new "feet" and noticed something different besides their lack of correlation to those of a pig. The fronts of his hooves were armored with the same dark indigo metal that would have been on his gauntlets. This puzzled Kain as a transformation usually involved him losing his armor and weapons. Curious, Kain continued evaluating his body; after glancing where his hands should have been, or once were, he noted an exposed portion of his arm or leg that had a dark cobalt pelt. His right foreleg however had a small buckler like shield extending just past the bend of where his elbow should be, facing forward. Aside feeling the bulk of the weight of his armor, Kain also felt the shifting of his spear and a satchel on his back and rear. His helmet contoured to his head as well as his cuirass. He then noticed a bushy golden tail involuntarily whipped itself. At this point, Kain took some relief in the fact that while he wasn't human, his equine state was more respectable than being a pig, let alone a hapless amphibian. For all intents and purposes, Kain's belongings had conformed to his current form; magics didn't usually err with poly-morphing spells from his past experiences. Queerer yet, there was no sign anyone was, or had been near Kain to cast such magics.

"_Perhaps this was the mountain's doing._" Kain thought to himself with the onset of anxiousness. "_Is this to be part of my trial"_ he continued musing."_Then it is likely that the shrine door is open"_ with a start, Kain began to move for his encampment.

A problem soon made itself clear; Kain did not recognize the terrain of the mountain. After spending years at the Mountain of Ordeals, the dragoon was quite familiar with a good majority area. But now it seemed, he was on a completely different mountain.

Kain saw a flat area that jutted out from the mountains and figured he could get his bearings from there. The platform had a view of a forest bordering along the mountain range. Just beyond the forest, roads could be faintly seen. Kain looked down the mountain and wagered that the area before him were the forests that were North of Baron.

"_Perhaps this is some sort of test of humility."_ Kain thought. "_Facing those I've wronged in this form, this subhuman form, is perhaps a way to come to terms with my inhuman thoughts and actions._"

Kain began to make his way down the mountain and enter the forest. For a brief moment, he paused and contemplated if entering a forest was a good idea. He did have his equipment, and most of the monsters that surrounded the Baron province were a nuisance at worst. He concluded that it would be faster and more fitting of his trial if he traversed the forest and braved its danger.

As he entered the forest he was immediately on his guard and although Kain looked intimidating in dragoon armor, he felt smaller literally and figuratively and therefore a more viable target for a predatory monster. At that moment, as if to confirm his concerns, he heard the beating of multiple footsteps and a pair of larger ones. Kain ducked for cover and began to espy for more clues of what was occurring. He then heard the footsteps in front of his hiding place.

A loud unnatural squawk reverberated through the area of the forest and then there was silence, not a sound of movement. Kain slowly brought himself out from cover and first beheld the sight of a large unfamiliar creature. The monster had cornered three small horses, not unlike Kain's current form, against a rock. Kain could only see the back portion of the reptilian creature; it had a white head and red crest, oddly like that of a chicken. Instead of pouncing on the three cornered horses, the monster merely stood before them, and then it became apparent what the creature was doing. The three quivering victims slowly began to turn into stone; not one sound escaped from them, and then they were petrified.

Kain recognized this effect from gorgons that he had encountered alongside Rosa and Cecil; they had a petrifying gaze that quickly rendered the victim incapacitated. He remembered again how grateful he was for Rosa's prowess with white magic; she may not have boasted about her usefulness, not like a certain ninja, but she held a great yet often unspoken respect from the party. And now he remembered that he was on his own at the moment. Before he could plot out his next course of action, Kain's weight shifted and a twig snapped.

That was all it took to gain the creatures attention. It turned its head to Kain' direction. He didn't know if immediate eye contact was all that was needed for the stone gaze to take effect, so he instantly shut his eyes. The creature began to bear down on his location, and he realized that it most likely found him, now that he was partially out of cover. He determined that without the assurance of healer nearby, that if he were to fight, he would need to fight blind and rely on his ears. Kain reached behind for his spear and quickly realized that when his hoof failed to grip the weapon, the fight just increased in difficulty.

Past the point of fleeing, Kain decided to deflect any blow with his shield. Being inflicted with magical darkness in the past allowed Kain to defend and evade, even if he could not see. The monster came up to Kain, stopped and reeled back to swing with its tail. Kain raised his right foreleg just at the moment the beast attacked.

Kain deflected the blow awkwardly, but he could tell that it caused the monster to recoil when the creature shrieked in a strange tone, vastly different from the confident roar not too long ago. Kain used this opportunity to flank the gorgon like monster, moving himself slightly into a clearing. He then bolted towards the creature and gave it an armored, left haymaker. The monster squawked from the blow, but retaliated with yet another swing of its tail; Kain tried to ready his shield after his first attack, but the offensive nature of the punch, coupled with the fact that he was out of his comfort range rendered him more open to retaliation. The monster's strike knocked Kain a few feet away. He stumbled to his hooves. The creature wasn't charging his location this time. "_the clever thing wants me to attack it, it would seem it's a fast learner._" Kain thought.

Trading blow for blow with the monster would not be the best course of action, for all he knew the monster was sturdier than when it first appeared. There was one gambit the dragoon hoped that would work. "_If almost everything about me was adapted to this form, then it should work._" The he contemplated.

All four of Kain's legs bent, the creature waited for another charge to easily counter, but the creature instead heard a loud crack and witnessed the pony it was fighting take off into the air at an alarming speed.

Knowing that he was a safe distance from the creature, Kain opened his eyes and spotted the stone gazer, and then he began his descent into the clearing of the forest. The monster had little time to notice the rapidly descending equine, and by that time it was too late.

Just before striking, Kain angled himself slightly. When the dragoon crashed into his target, the spear on his back embedded itself though the head and neck of the creature. It twitched once and fell to the ground, along with Kain who was still attached to the spear.

After a few awkward moments of trying to remove his spear from himself and the felled beast, he was free; in that time dusk had already begun to fall so he thought it was best to set up camp in the clearing. He disdainfully used his mouth to gather the stones and materials he'd need to build a campfire, which then left him with a new problem. How was he to start a fire? Kain then took the time to contemplate this problem and eat a few rations. He pulled off his pack, and with some minor difficulties, opened it to gather some dried meat.

Kain ate and mulled over what he could do to start a fire without hands. Flint and steel would be difficult to use with his mouth, not to mention that his face would be close to the flames upon ignition. Then Kain felt an idea creep up on him, out of all the array of items that Kain had stowed away, a few red fangs or bomb fragments might do the trick. He felt what he thought was another idea begin to creep up on him. No, this was dinner creeping back up. He ran to a tree just off from the clearing and vomited his rations.

Then a realization hit Kain just as quickly as his nausea did. "_This body cant' take meat."_ He mentally chided himself. He went back to his pack and removed a good two pounds of dried meat and threw it deep into the forest, "_Not a bad shot, considering I used my mouth."_

Kain returned to his pack and fetched out a red fang. He threw it at campfire, which set off a larger explosion that he expected, but it was sufficient at accomplishing the goal. He then fished out some hard tack from the satchel and ruefully chewed it after taking a forceful bite into the bread. It lacked flavor for its convenience, but it filled the belly.

Finally settling down after the day's events, Kain surveyed the encampment in the forest clearing and remembered the three young horses that were petrified. Upon further inspection Kain noted that each of the equines were slightly different from one another. One had wings, another was a unicorn, and the last one garnered particular interest. Not because it was plain, but rather because it, or rather she was wearing a bow. As curious as he was, there was nothing he could do for these three. Then it hit him.

Kain returned to his pack and pulled out a rolled up piece of cloth. He brought it over to the statues, set it down, and carefully using his teeth, he pulled the string that had kept the sheet rolled up. Like a thief's set of lock picks, there were eight golden needles secured onto the cloth.

Kain gingerly took hold of one of the needles from the blunt end and moved over to the statue with a stone bow. He stared inquisitively at the statue on last time, then pricked its stony skin. A golden glow washed over the statue, and the stone skin crumbled and powdered off. The needle in Kain's mouth disintegrated and he beheld a filly with a yellow coat, red mane, orange eyes and a dark pink bow.

She coughed a bit and gasped for air as if she'd been drowning. After that fit, she looked at Kain. Realizing that he'd just saved her, she thanked him, "Well, thanks a whole lot mister!"

Kain was in shock. " You can talk?" he blurted out without thinking. _"I can talk?"_

~BelligerentBindlestiff


End file.
